Facile Access to Hydroxy-Functional Core–Shell Microspheres via Grafting of Ethylene Oxide by Anionic Ring-Opening Polymerization
✍ Scribed by Raymond Joso; Stefan Reinicke; Andreas Walther; Holger Schmalz; Axel H. E. Müller; Leonie Barner
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2009
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 278 KB
- Volume
- 30
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1022-1336
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
We present a facile access route to hydroxy‐functional narrow disperse microspheres of well‐defined grafting density (GD). Ethylene oxide has been grafted from highly crosslinked poly(divinyl benzene) microspheres by anionic ring‐opening polymerization using sec‐butyllithium as activator together with the phosphazene base t‐BuP~4~. Initially, core microspheres have been prepared by precipitation polymerization utilizing divinyl benzene (DVB, 80 wt.‐%). The grafting of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) from the surface resulted in the formation of functional core–shell microspheres with hydroxy‐terminal end groups. The number average particle diameter of the grafted microspheres was 3.6 µm and the particle weight increased by 5.7%. The microspheres were characterized by SEM, FT‐IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and fluorescence microscopy. The surface GD (determined via two methods) was 1.65 ± 0.06 and 2.09 ± 0.08 chains · nm^−2^, respectively.
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